Save Your Stick with this Roll-up Skill Pad that Mimics the Feel of Real Ice!

As is the case with off-ice shooting practice, when working on your stickhandling you need a good slick surface to work on. This is the case for two reasons:

1. To save your stick: Sticks are expensive these days, and you want to be using your game stick for your off-ice stickhandling and shooting drills.
2. To mimic the ice surface: It’s no secret that pucks don’t slide well on concrete. You want to work on a surface that will act and feel as close to real ice as possible.

HockeyShot’s Roll-up Shooting & Skill Pad will accomplish both of these objectives. It’ll protect your stick, and give you a smooth, slick surface on which your pucks will slide and feel just like they would on real ice!

This surface can be used as a shooting pad or a skill pad. It will work really well either way, but I actually prefer it as a skill pad to be used for stickhandling because it is so big. This skill pad is 4′ by 8′ which gives you tons of room to work on your stickhandling and passing skills.

As the name suggests, this skill pad is made of a flexible material, which means you can roll it up and take it with you or store it. While this is great for portability, the one drawback about this feature is that it takes a little time for it to lay down flat after you’ve had it rolled up. It eventually does stay flat, just leave it on a hard, flat surface whenever possible.

You can pick up the Roll-up Shooting & Skill Pad as a stand alone item, or as part of the Extreme Passing Kit (one timer model).

All in all, this is a fantastic pad that is durable, and versatile enough that you can get many different uses out of it!

Technorati Tags: Concrete, Drawback, Flat Surface, Flexible Material, Game, Little Time, Pucks, Slick Surface, Timer

Track the Speed of your Hockey Shot with this Radar Gun iPhone App!

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by the developers of a new iPhone app called Speedhero. I took a look at a few of their YouTube videos, and was blown away by what I saw:

The folks down at Speedhero have come up with a way to track the speed of a shot using your phone!

It all centers around a basic equation you’ve probably seen before D=RxT (Distance = Rate x Time). If you have any two of these components, you can figure out the third. With Speedhero, you program in your “Distance” from the goal, then it uses the microphone in your iPhone to pick up two important sounds: your stick hitting the puck, and the puck hitting the target. By tracking those two points of impact, we now have “Time” to go along with our “Distance.” From there, the program can calculate the “Rate” at which the puck arrived. Pretty sweet!

One quick thing I should mention. The current version of Speedhero for the iPhone was designed primarily for Soccer. I contacted the developers, and asked what the difference would be for hockey. I was told there are differences in the flight patterns of a puck vs a ball, and that those differences should be accounted for in the algorithm. So, when the hockey version comes out it will be a bit more accurate for us hockey players. However, this is still a fun and inexpensive way to track your progress over the summer. ENJOY!

Technorati Tags: Algorithm, Blown Away, Current Version, Developers, Flight Patterns, Hockey Players, Iphone, Microphone, Puck, Radar Gun, Rt, Rxt, Shot Gun, Soccer, Target, X Time, Youtube Videos

The Extreme Passer is an Awesome Tool for Working on your One-Timer!

Every once in a while, a product comes along that just makes sense. The Extreme Passer is one of them. This device is simple, but very versatile in how it can be used.

The Extreme Passer clamps or screws onto any shooting pad synthetic ice surface, and can then be used as a “passing buddy” to feed you passes for one-time shots (as we’re demonstrating in this post), or as a rebounder to actually practice your passing technique (as we’ll show in an upcoming post).

When you open up your Extreme Passer, the first thing you’ll notice is that it is super heavy duty. It’s thick enough that will stay stable as you fire passes off it. Set-up is easy, just tighten the knobs to secure the Extreme Passer onto your pad, then you’re off and running!

The Extreme Passer can be purchased as a stand alone unit if you already have a pad, or as part of the Extreme Passing Kit (One-Timer Model) which includes a huge 4′ x 8′ shooting pad.

One piece of advice: The more stable the surface underneath your pad, the better results you’ll have with the passer, especially if you’re using it on a flexible shooting pad like the roll up pad that comes with the Extreme Passing Kit.

Technorati Tags: Clamps, Heavy Duty, Knobs, Piece Of Advice, Rebounder, Running, Screws, Synthetic Ice, Time Shots, Timer, Timers, Tool

The HockeyShot Professional Shooting Pad is a Must-Have if You Plan to Work on Your Shot from Home!

This product is a no-brainer. If you want to work on your shot off the ice, you need a good shooting pad. Otherwise you’ll wreck your stick, and the pucks won’t slide with the same feel as real ice.

HockeyShot’s Professional Shooting Pad is a great choice.

I’ve used quite a few “makeshift” shooting pads over the years. Some of these worked ok, some not as well. None has compared to the experience I’ve had with the Professional Shooting Pad. There are a few key features that make this a “must-have” item:

1. 30″ by 60″ surface area, which is larger than most of the pads I’ve used in the past. This makes it big enough to give you a full range of motion on your wrist shots, slap shots and snap shots.
2. Made of a slick and durable material, which allows your pucks to slide similarly to ice––so it works great for shooting or stickhandling practice.
3. Durability allows you to take slap shots without damaging the pad; something I had to be careful about with some of my makeshift shooting pads!
4. Bevelled edge makes it easy to pull pucks up from beside your mat.
5. This shooting pad is lightweight, with a handle cutout, which makes it REALLY easy to transport (not the case with some of my previous shooting pads).

To sum it up, you need a shooting pad of some sort if you want to work on your shot from home. If you’re looking for one that mimics the feel of real ice, is big enough to take real shots with, will hold up to intense use, and is easily transportable, then this is the pad for you. It’ll save your stick, and help make you a better hockey player in the process!

Technorati Tags: 10 Years, 6 Years, Brainer, Bungie Cord, Canvas, Development Camps, Durability, Durable Material, Emergencies, Ez Goal, Fair Share, Footsteps, Good Shooting, Hockey Player, Holes, Imitations, Mat, Old Man, Pucks, Rain And Shine, Range Of Motion, Rebound, Shooter, Skill Development, Slap Shots, Snap Shots, Steel Bar, Surface Area, Trickle, Tutor, Tutors, Wrist Shots

The Shooter Tutor is one of my All-time Favorite Hockey Shooting Aids!

I first began using the Shooter Tutor when I was about 10 years old back in Toronto. My dad used to keep one in the trunk incase we had ever had a goalie “no-show” us for practice.

During high school (about 6 years later), I kept that same Shooter Tutor strapped to a full-sized goal in our side yard. I left it up through rain and shine, and shot anywhere from 50 to 100 pucks a day during the summers. Needless to say, it saw its fair share of abuse from me!

Years later, when I began running my own skill development camps, the first thing I invested in were two Shooter Tutors. There’s nothing worse than showing up to a practice or drop-in, and having nothing to shoot at… especially in a camp setting! So, following in my old man’s footsteps, I now keep one Shooter Tutor in my car for “emergencies,” and the other one is strapped to my EZ Goal so I can keep my shot sharp between games.

So… what’s so great about the Shooter Tutor? Well, a lot of things actually! It’s light-weight, portable, and durable enough to take years of abuse. The design is simple, yet sophisticated. You’ve got your classic 5 holes cut out; The steel bar sewn into the bottom keeps it hanging heavy so that pucks don’t trickle through under the “goalie”; You have to actually snipe to score (most of the time). Also, the combination of canvas with the bungie cord straps makes for a very realistic rebound when you miss your shot.

BEWARE OF IMITATIONS:

Because the Shooter Tutor is so well designed, lots of companies have tried to come up with their own versions. I obviously can’t speak for ALL of them, but I can tell you that I’ve used a number of them over the years, none has held a candle to the Shooter Tutor. Many of them tend to be lower quality, don’t stay strapped into the net as well, and don’t hold up to real shots from real pucks the same way the Shooter Tutor brand does. In my mind, the Shooter Tutor is tried and true, and well worth the investment!

Technorati Tags: 10 Years, 6 Years, Backstop, Bungie Cord, Canvas, Cross Bar, Development Camps, Emergencies, Ez Goal, Fair Share, Fairness, Footsteps, Goal Frame, Hockey Training, Holes, Home Hockey, Imitations, Old Man, Phillips Screwdriver, Priorities, Puck, Pucks, Rain And Shine, Rain Storm, Rebound, Set Ups, Shooter, Skill Development, Steel Bar, Storage, Time Consuming, Trickle, Tutor, Tutors, Ups, Weather